Darfari
Overview Darfar is one of the northernmost of the Black Kingdoms, located just south of eastern Stygia. The Darfari are herdsmen and farmers, living in the swamps of the east and the savannas of the west. The Darfari do not occupy the dragon-haunted forest belt. The Darfari are also notorious cannibals. During the rainy season, they move to semi permanent villages of thatch to grow millet, sorghum and other grains. During the dry season, they take their cattle to the savannas and fields for grazing. The Darfari are quick to take offence and are fiery in temperament. They are utterly indifferent to human life, which makes them dreaded by neighbouring tribes. The Darfari are ferocious and treat prisoners badly, often allowing them to starve if they are not eaten. The Darfari are also rather indolent, preferring to avoid work if possible. The men would much rather sit in the main hut of their village (the palaver house) and make thatch or fishing lines. They will laugh at even the slightest hint of humour despite their warlike, vengeful nature. The savage Darfari are regarded as thieves and murderers, without a hint of basic trustworthiness. Still, they are considered valuable as slaves. Most adventurers are likely to encounter Darfari as slaves in Shem, Turan or Hyrkania. The Darfari speak a guttural language. Strangers in Darfar greet each other by grasping one another’s upper arms, then, after a slight pause, clasping each other’s wrists. Friends greet each other by embracing. Clothing And Grooming The Darfari wear few clothes. Adult males usually go naked except maybe for some beads around their necks or their wrists. In some civilised regions they may wear loin-cloths. They may also adorn their noses, ears or lips with rings of ivory or precious metals. Adult women are usually nude in the villages but may wear goatskin skirts or plantain girdles with long, dried grass hanging from them when travelling outside the villages. Children of both sexes go naked. The chief of a tribe wears a leopard skin cloak to signify his standing. Modesty is a civilized concept quite beyond the ken of the Darfari. (Note: Darfari loves adding things to their hair and skin, even morphing infants skulls to look certain ways. They also find facial hair to be disgusting). Women, Sex and Love The sex roles in Darfar are clearly defined, especially in regards to the division of labour. Men hunt and herd and women cook. Boys are taught to fish, herd and hunt while girls are taught to cook, make pottery, weave baskets and mats and care for the children. Men till the fields but the women plant the crops. Women and children sleep in the houses while men sleep in the cattle pens to watch over the family wealth. Only men are permitted to be blacksmiths because of the ‘magic’ involved. Men herd cattle and the boys practice by herding sheep and goats. Males and females bathe together in the rivers and pools without regard to modesty. Prior to marriage, Darfari girls do as they please in sexual terms; virginity, chastity and virtue are not held in any sort of esteem. It would be uncommon to find a maiden much past puberty in any given tribe. The Darfari see polygamy as an ideal situation but in practise most men only have one wife because of the ‘bride price’ payment and the lack of possessions most Darfari males have. Darfari are required to marry outside their clan. Grooms pay a ‘bride price’ to the bride’s family, which creates an alliance between the two clans. If a woman’s husband dies, her husband’s brother is expected to marry the woman (without the need for a further ‘bride price’ payment) in order to provide support for the widow and any children. If a Darfari warrior has more than one wife, all the children are raised together as members of the same family. The various wives typically cooperate but each wife is ultimately responsible for her own children. Adultery is common in Darfar and one of the chief reasons for raids and warfare between the villages and tribes. Wives are loaned to all guests. Trade and Economy The Darfari are hunter-gatherers and their grasslands and jungles are filled with ferocious game and fertile soil. Stegosaur-like dragons, wild cats, snakes and birds live in the southern jungles and swamplands. The hot grasslands in the north host elephants, giraffes and cheetahs. The Darfari also harvest ivory from the elephants in the western reaches, or perhaps they poach elephants from Kush. In addition, the Darfari herd goats, sheep and Darfar cattle. Cattle are the root of Darfari economics, their source of wealth. Darfari have some sense of money, using iron arrowheads in bundles as a measure of value. A single iron arrowhead (or an equivalent amount of iron) is called a beki. A bundle of ten beki is an ntet. A dowry is typically something valued at ten ntet or a hundred beki. Women are their primary trading commodity. Goats are also traded with some frequency, considered by most Darfari to be only slightly less value than women. Cloth is the third most commonly trade good. Salt is highly sought after in trade. Millet and tobacco are also deemed trade goods. Further, the Darfari trade in the dead. Unless the dead is a chief, the Darfari will trade their deceased with neighbouring tribes, for they do not eat their own clanmembers. Chiefs and other important persons are buried. Military The Darfari enjoy feuding. The military strength of the Darfari consists of all able-bodied adult males. There is no formal military organisation or training in Darfar and thus no real soldiers; all experience in handling weapons is gained through games of skill, the hunt and actual fighting. Darfari men spend their entire boyhoods on the veldt tending cattle or in the darkest of jungles hunting prey and they become tough and strong as a result. (Note: In their culture women rarely ever take up fighting roles). Religion The basic cosmology for the Darfari is one of continual strife between the physical world and the spiritual world. Theirs is a bleak religion of primitive animism. Everything is possessed of spirits and spirits are everywhere. The point of Darfari religion is the placation and entreaty of these spirits on behalf of the person or tribe. Everything is an omen or sign and anything the Darfari sees as dominant or great obviously has a powerful spirit in need of placation. The Darfari who passes an especially large or ominous tree or rocky outcrop will leave some offering, even if it is but a small pile of stones or a bit of food, before moving on. This belief is so strong that any Darfari who knowingly does not do this will suffer a –1d6 penalty to all rolls he makes thereafter until he feels he has atoned for the slight. The Darfari believe that spirits who feel ignored will attack with disease and misfortune. The Darfari religion is tribal, so they do not try to explain their religion nor do they try to convert others. One is either raised with the tribe to believe in this religion or one is not – and is therefore forever an outsider. Overall, the religion is designed to reinforce the need for community among the Darfari, to strengthen the tribal ties. Their Gods The Zuagirs believe the Darfari worship Yog, Lord of the Empty Abodes, with fiery rites that always end with the consumption of human flesh. Yog, however, is a Shemite or Turanian god of the deserts who burns his victims through the blasting desert sun. Chances are the Darfari do not actually worship Yog outside of Zamboula, if, in truth, they even worship Yog there. Although the Darfari of Zamboula swear by Set, their masters are the Set worshippers. The Darfari do not worship any one particular god but observe a nature religion based on many disgusting gods and numerous dark spirits of nature – animal and jungle spirits that empower the world with magic and life. Witchcraft, sorcery and juju are mainstays of their religious experience, although most of their magic is directed toward spirits to bring needed weather, to encourage a good harvest or to bring about success in war. Darfari magic is not usually directed against terrestrial foes. The spear and club are usually far more reliable against flesh and blood than magic. The Darfari do have gods, though they do not worship any one more or less than any other. Any spirit or god that is ignored is likely to visit a host of ills upon the people. Their creator god, the Source of All Things, is named Anyambi and other shadowy gods include Nzame (who created people), Mabere (reptile god) and Nkwa (personification of destiny). Much like Cimmerian gods, the Darfari gods are indifferent to the sufferings of man but they insist on being honoured lest they send doom to those who do not honour them.